I wear plaid. I'm a blogger.

Squirrel Revenge. I have been a relatively happy home owner for the past several months since I have successfully evicted the family of squirrels from our attic. I don't mind them living in the trees all around us and messing with the lawn--all in all, I genuinely like squirrels. Until yesterday. Yesterday I was outside laying some grass seed and taking care of some routine lawn maintenance (perhaps due to moles....we'll see about that later). I was walking along my driveway at the base of the tree and was almost struck with some pieces of wood shaving, falling from higher up in the tree. Perplexed by the notion that a maple tree could have dandruff I decided to investigate what could be causing this strange case of flaky skin. I looked up, and there, about 15 feet off the ground I saw a squirrel, looking down. Our eyes locked in a 10 second stare down--each of us daring the other to make the first move. Well, because a squirrel is a squirrel, he decided he had other A...

The American flag. A symbol of freedom. A symbol of our nation. A symbol that our nation holds so dear to our hearts that we have special rules and regulations on how to treat it, display it, respect it, and even dispose of it properly. One method of flying the flag that every American should be aware of (I mean, we probably all learned this in preschool, scouts, or on the History channel, right?) is that the national sign of distress is flying the flag upside down. Yesterday. I was driving home for lunch when I noticed an American flag flying upside down from someone's front yard. "Hmm," I thought to myself. "Odds are pretty good that this is someone playing a joke on the owner of the house, or perhaps it was dark when they ran the flag up the pole." But as I continued on my drive, I also wondered if one of the people in the house was in an abusive relationship, and the abuser never looked at the flag, or....something. So, on my way back to the c...

...to home. This morning I decided to tackle one of the biggest hills around as a part of my Flying Pig training. Mt. Washington. In order to get from my house to church (5 miles) I have to pass through/travel up Mt Washington, a task that not even my 4 cylindered MG Midget likes to process. So this morning I did it. I strapped on neither motorcycle nor truck but put on my running shoes and made it to church.Was it pretty? No. Was it a beautiful morning? Yes. Was it fun? Eh. Would I do it again? Probably. I find that when I run I come up with many observations and self-reflections. Perhaps because I feel as close to dying while short-breathed and winded as I do at any time during any day. Here are a few of those  observations: -I had the ability to greet people with a breathless hello, whereas I usually don't even notice them as I drive by at 40mph. While this is limited interaction, it is amazing to start your day off "spending time" with people you don't n...

Plagiarism. God's gift to the inept.

Have you ever heard of the expression, " Hear the corn grow "? I would have assumed that this was an urban legend akin to "Opening day is so close you can almost taste it." However, this past Friday I was outside working on my truck. It was a pleasantly warm day and aside from taking care of my vehicular bovine  I also decided to join Katie in doing some weeding. As I was thinking of untangling this vine from the front bushes, I heard what sounded like rustling leaves, or perhaps like bubbles popping. I thought maybe we had a bunch of insects who were awake from their winter snooze and were hungry for some plant life, but upon very  close inspection, I realized that there were no bugs on these bushes at all. No dry leaves and no wind to stir them if there had been. That's when I saw them. Tiny little shoots that were showing signs of new growth within the bush. They were tightly wound together and as the afternoon sun was hitting them they were rapidly begin...

Do you know what's boring? The status quo. I used to be a crazy fun life-of-the-party kind of guy. Then I became a Grad assistant and starting working at a church and I flopped the other way. I have spent the last 6 months trying to figure out which of those personalities is really me--am I light hearted and care free? Or am I the deep relational guy who dresses up during the week? Answer: yes. I believe that God created me with a sense of humor to bring life to people's days and to be deeply relational so I can have conversations that allow me to connect with people in an intentional way. There doesn't have to be a separation of who I am--to pick a side and stick with it. I can be both parts. I need to be both parts. My lightly educated guess is that we all  need to be both parts. Why? You may ask? Because we all need a chance to dance in the rain. We all need a time to get kicked out of a mall. We all need to lighten up enough to laugh once a day and make someone ...

It has always been a dream of mine to play hooky on Reds Opening Day. This year, it almost happened. Facts: -I took the whole day off work. -I watched the Findlay Parade. -I got a free cheese coney and a cup of hot chocolate. -I went to batting practice before the game. -I stayed for more than my fair share of baseball (12 innings) -I stood for 9 innings straight. -I froze my butt off. The rest of the story: -Isaiah and I spent the morning at home, eating our individual cereals and fruits and waited for Dan to swing by the house for us to go to the ballpark together. -Dan brought his roofing truck which has a clearance of 6' 11" -Of the 13 parking garages we drove past or tried to enter, 12 of them had a 6' 8" clearance sign. -It took 30 minutes of gridlock traffic to find our parking spot and finally get to the parade, only after having dropped Isaiah off with Katie for him to return home for a nap (strike one: Katie and Isaiah miss the parade). -I...